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SHALOM ALEICHEM HOUSES

Springsteen & Goldhammer, 1926–27

In its early years, the Shalom Aleichem Houses were also known as the Yiddish Cooperative Heimgesellschaft. Unlike other cooperative housing complexes of the era, they were developed independent of government subsidies by members of the Workmen’s Circle who wished to create a housing complex for residents with an interest in and concern for the preservation of secular Yiddish culture. Shalom Aleichem was the pen name of famed Ukrainian Yiddish writer Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, whose works include Tevye the Milkman, on which Fiddler on the Roof is based. Shalom Aleichem Houses was devoted to its cultural mission, and included artists’ studios, an auditorium for lectures and performances and cafeterias for functions. The complex, which has survived largely intact over the years, is made up of 15 five-story buildings comprising 229 apartments. Its neo-Tudor style was apparently unrelated to the values of the cooperative, but was a popular choice for residential architecture at the time. One of its most distinctive characteristics is the presence of beautifully landscaped inner garden courtyards.